Repeat After Me

Chapter 67

Things shut down for real the next day – Sunday 2 August. I remember it clearly. Mum saw the news first on her ABC news app on her phone. An alert pinged saying we were now on Stage 4 restrictions. I was downstairs in the living room, reading an art book on Francis Bacon when I heard her curse at her phone screen. 'Shit, bloody shit.'

'What?' I asked.

Josh came out of the kitchen to find out what was going on too.

'Stage 4 restrictions for six weeks as of 8pm tonight. Year 11s and 12s will be going back to remote learning. Sorry kids.'

Josh groaned. 'I hate it,' he said.

'It's saying there will be an 8pm-5am curfew,' mum said. 'And we can only exercise for one hour a day, once a day, and only shop within 5 kilometres of our house.'

Asten's intel had been right. We'd all found ourselves in a 5km radius prison.

'This article is saying it's one of the toughest lockdowns in the world,' mum said. 'I can't believe it.'

'For God's sake,' Josh said. 'It's only people from aged care homes dying. Whoa another ninety year old died. Big deal. Those stupid security guards at hotel quarantine. What a balls up. The government has been incompetent. Even if we get the numbers down, what's to stop it from happening again? A few people get COVID and there's another outbreak. They can't keep locking us up forever.'

'It's about not overwhelming our hospital system. It's about keeping our health workers safe. People are dying in their thousands elsewhere in the world. Just look at America, or Brazil,' mum said.

All at once, everything felt hopeless. This could go on for years.

'What about exams?' Josh asked. 'I may never even go back to school now.'

Mum smoothed the velvet fabric of the couch, beside her. 'I'm sorry kids. This year is a mess. And you two are in the thick of it. It's tough on you finishing year 11 and 12. They'll have to take it into consideration with your marks.' She paused. 'I can't believe it,' she said again.

'What about dad?' Josh asked.

'We definitely won't be seeing him until the football season is over,' mum said.

'Screw this,' Josh said. 'I'm going for a ride with Max, while we still can.' He grabbed his helmet and walked out the door.

'You okay, mum?' I asked.

'Sure,' she said. She grabbed my hand. 'It's you two I'm worried about. It's so disruptive.'

'We'll be fine,' I said. I picked my book up and went upstairs. There was one person I really wanted to talk to.